3.26.2010

just in case it was seeming too picturesque.

misadventures. #1.The baby and I were upstairs last week and a funny, toxic smell wafted up. I called down to Alex who was cooking breakfast:"Alex, there is a weird smell up here~ do you smell that?""No, I am just cooking bacon... Oh #@^(%%!#@! the heater is on fire!"I peered over the railing to see flames leaping out of our propane heater and Alex pulling off the grate and hitting the fire with a towel. He quickly got the fire out, but the house was filled with tiny floating black specks and a terrible plastic smell. All that was left of the fire's culprit was a sticky pile of melted plastic at the bottom of the heater. It was a mess.It turns out that Lili had slipped her plastic harmonica through the heater grate while it was not hot, and then the heater turned on~ setting the harmonica on fire.oh dear.#2. Barf in the car seat.Alex told me last week that he thinks my signing us up for the 9:15 Kindermusik class was possibly one of my biggest blunders in life. Even before the baby, it was a struggle to get Lili and myself out the door by 8:30 to make it in time... And now with the baby it is doubly, if not tripley, hard. This past Tuesday was one of my first solo town days with both kids. And we managed to make it out the door with just enough time to make it to Kindermusik (I really need to post about Lilikoi's awesome music class one of these days~ soon...). I was feeling pretty good about getting out of the house and feeling hopeful about the six stops/errands that the kids and I were were embarking upon that day (Kindermusik, 2 grocery stores, the P.O., the thrift store to find an Easter basket, and the library.)But we live 12 miles down a VERY curvy, hairpin turney, type of road~ and just after we crossed over the Eastern Continental Divide, I heard a weird noise coming from the backseat. I looked in the rear view mirror just in time to see Lili throwing up everywhere.I won't go into details, but I will say that it colored and effected the smell of the rest of the day. We forged on though, and successfully made it home in tact.#3.Yesterday was my sister's birthday, and we went to a lovely dinner party at her house. The second half of my day was wonderful, and the first half was trying. I don't know if I could call it a misadventures since nothing in particular happened, but I cried at the end of it.Eliseo was fussy and wanting to be held every second. And Lili was especially needy and kept repeating "Hey Mama!?" over and over over. She would say "Hey Mama!?" and I would say "Yes, Lili?" or "What?" and she would reply "Hey Mama!?". On the fourth or fifth go round she would get to what she wanted to say. I counted her saying the word Mama over 30 times in a half hour period. Then the baby would be crying on top of Lili's questions~ and my head would be spinning. At the peak of my inability to deal Seo was crying and Lili was talking, and all of a sudden I hear this psssssssss noise. And Lili says "Mama! Mama, I am peeing!" (She has had a regression since Seo was born)And I said "I know Lili. I know." And I closed my eyes, and bit my tongue, and heard the pee as it seeped through the floorboards and started dripping onto a pile of magazines downstairs...Now that I am writing it down it sounds pretty lame that this brought me to tears ~ All I know is that I have been asked many times how life with two is going, and mostly my response has been "better than I thought i would be" but yesterday morning's response would have been "I am LOSING it." When I started to cry right along with Eliseo Lili came up right up to my face and said "Mama? You sad Mama?"And I said "Yes, I feel sad. Mama's having a hard day."Lili said "Oh..." very thoughtfully.Then she got all up in my face, put her palms on my cheeks, and gave me a giant slobbery kiss and a great big hug.

Wellll ... I DID get three or four good chuckles out of your post ... And my heart goes out to you! But you did it! Made it through a blip or two in the ongoing balancing act of parenting. Read Lindsey's latest blog post and you'll gain a whole new perspective.Love youxxxooo

My heart ached hearing your story. I have had so many days like this. 2 is definitely a challenge. Some days are easy as pie and others leave me exhausted and in tears. I almost set fire in our kitchen a few weeks ago. I was baking some bread, in a bread pan, which rose twice as much as I thought it would. Half of it spilled over onto the bottom of the oven and was burning and smoking the whole house. I caught it in time, thank goodness. I feel for you and you are such a wonderful mama!!

Oh Kelc. Hugs coming your way. Sorry you had such a rough day. I imagine that some of my days will be like that when #2 comes along. Nothing really bad happening, just overwhelming. Glad you made it through. I love hearing about your adventures and misadventures, both good and bad. Love you!

Way to make me cry right in the middle of work! Ah, do I remember those overwhelming days. There's nothing harder than having babies and toddlers. Don't let anyone say, "Just wait til they're teenagers!" which strangers seemed to love to say to me while my child was screaming in the grocery store or some such thing. It's hard. That's all there is to it. But you are doing a great job and I just love catching up on your life through your blog. You're smack dab in the middle of the biggest experiment in life - parenting. Every moment is a new challenge - it's the way we learn unconditional love in this world. Lots of little miracles. Lots to learn...Your little ones are beautiful!

I remember days like that when my second was a newborn (and yes, my first regressed, too, during that time--it's common, although knowing that doesn't make the day any better).I can feel your pain. It does get better. Just let yourself cry, kiss her back, and you'll get through it.

I want to plant a little garden with you now.take care of a piece of the earth somehow. and tend it when we're old and gray, and try and straighten up and say "I'm so happy to see you today"hey baby, hey baby, hey.~Greg Brown.